Moore Is Less

Last Thursday evening, the final question co-host Eric Smith asked me during the "5 in 5" segment on the Fire The Cannon Show was this: should John Moore be playing more? I went with "no", but stated that I would like to see him stay up in Columbus for a while, if not the entire season. This was before Anton Stralman went to the edge of his NHL career, stood and looked down, and then suddenly found his game.

My thinking at the time was that it might do wonders for John Moore to come up here and see exactly how much different the game is at the NHL level and to learn which specific skills he needs to focus on in his development. And while I hear all of the conservative types saying don't rush him, I also see a good number of teams electing to educate their prized pupils right here in the bigs and finding a way to do it in a responsible way.

Anton, I'm not kidding around. Don't make me come
over there and beat you with this microphone.

So if Moore could stay up and play every third game for a while, log 10 or 12 minutes when he plays with that potentially increasing based on merit, all the while spending quality time with NHL players, I think it would better than playing with lots of guys who aren't in the NHL. However, if he isn't going to play at all, then sending him back to Springfield is a no-brainer. And thanks to Stralman's unexpected resurgence, Moore wasn't playing at all. 


Speaking of which, does anybody else think it's somewhat freaky the way coach Scott Arniel puts guys into "time-out" and a few days later they come back twice as good? Are they being brainwashed? Does Howson send them over to Grant Hospital for a non-invasive lobotomy? Maybe he has Bob Boughner take them to a nearby warehouse and torture them by taping their eyelids open and making them watch endless loops of Kisscam and Guess Which Box Has the Pizza In It, and then Arniel sits them down and "makes them an offer they can't refuse." Come to think of it, maybe we don't want to know. Mr. Russell, coach Arniel would like to see you in his office.

Miscellany:

• A titanic tilt tonight against the L.A. Kings  is looming, and the start might very well be given to Matthieu Garon. According to reports circulating yesterday, Steve Mason has bronchitis and flu-like symptoms and was told yesterday to stay away from the team. Even if Garon starts, Mason would have to be on the bench. If Mason doesn't improve and soon, Scott Howson could be forced to make an emergency call to Springfield.
• The Jackets are playing perhaps their best hockey of the season over the last 10 games. Should Howson risk screwing with the chemistry by shaking things up at the deadline? It's an interesting question. For a nice point/counterpoint, check out Patrick Drottar's article at Bleacher Report where he takes the "don't mess with it" stance, and Bart Logan's piece for Hockey Buzz in which he lobbies for Howson to pull the trigger.
• Ethan Moreau might play tonight, and Derek Dorsett (concussion) might not. Moreau has been in a "timeout" for quite some time, albeit for an injury. Still, let's hope Arniel leveraged some of Moreau's downtime by performing some of his Jedi mind tricks on him.

UPDATE: Both Mason and Dorsett were on the ice for the morning skate today.  Garon was the first off the ice though, so that would seem to indicate he is starting. However, it's a good sign to see that Mason is being allowed to be near the team. It looks like he will be on the bench for tonight's game at least. It's also good to see Dorsett up and about, but I would be shocked to see him the lineup tonight.